Twenty years of working in a corporate environment has brought me to a point where I have decided to give the insider's comments to the corporate BS we all have to endure.
Believe me it's not for our good.
I'd know since my day job is to create and implement corporate BS and make you and others believe in it.
Let's start wiping that BS off.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Alpha male e-mail fencing

Some things just speak for themselves. Below you see an edited chain of e-mails that just reek of testosterone.

The actors are VP1, VP2 and VP3 (plus the usual cc: audience). Guess which one is me.

The subject concerns all three but they head up different divisions. Note the use of cc: and the time. In real life everyone could see the e-mail history.

All,I don't approve of this. How come I was not informed. It's the wrong approach and is basically a waste of money. It's not planned properly and I ask you to stop all further activities!!!

VP3 (From my Blackberry)

Replies VP1 patiently:

From: VP1To: VP3cc: VP2Subject: Re: Something that concerns usTime: 12 pmVP3,I'm surprised to hear that you haven't heard of this. It was in the plan document that we reviewed two months ago and which you approved.We're just executing that plan.If you have further questions don't hesitate to call me.Regards,VP1

Replies VP3 going for the kill:

From: VP3To: VP1cc: Team of VP1;Team of VP2; CEO, CTO, CFO, CMOSubject: Re: Something that concerns us Time: 12.15 pmVP1,it's not your call to decide on this. I have said that I don't approve and that's it. Stop further actions immediately.VP3

Interacts VP2, making a reference to his earlier reply (50 minutes ago!), insinuating that VP1 hasn't delivered to his promise. And re-invents himself as a a player in the approval chain.

From: VP2 To: VP1, VP3cc: Team of VP1;Team of VP2; CEO, CTO, CFO, CMOSubject: Re: Something that concerns us Time: 12.17 pmI haven't received the details I asked for yet. Please send so I can have an informed view. I'm not going to approve until I know more.VP2So now VP1 is caught in a snag. The other two VPs who approved a plan just two months ago are now aiming for his throat.

It continues for another couple of hours and it gets a lot nastier. I leave it up to you to do the analysis of the hidden agendas.

About Me

☼
I'm a VP holding an international senior management job with a well known global company.
What's a VP? Well it's short for Vice President. But for the purposes of this blog any reference to VP should be interpreted as "viktigpetter". This Swedish term translates to "pompous ass".
And yes, I'm Swedish so any nitpick comments about my English will get the VP treatment :-)